Sounding Off: Richardson-Lake Highlands readers tell us if they think single-use bag fee is a wise choice for Dallas

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DMN file photo

A plastic shopping bag waves in the wind as it is attached to a tree near the Old Red Courthouse in Downtown Dallas. The Dallas City Council voted 8-6 March 26 to enact an "environmental fee" of five cents for most single-use carryout bags. It takes effect Jan. 1.

The Dallas City Council voted 8-6 March 26 to enact an “environmental fee” of 5 cents for most single-use carryout bags. Do you think the council’s actions were justified? What should cities do regarding plastic and single-use bags?

Kathy Minde, Arapaho Heights in Richardson: I either recycle the plastic bags or use them to pick up doggy doo, so I would hate to see them banned. I understand the intent and admit to forgetting to take my reusable bags into grocery stores with me. Hopefully the charge would make me remember. I do wish grocery stores would ask if you want a bag when only buying one or two items that could be easily carried — including pharmacy items. I don’t know how many times I have said, “No, please, don’t waste a bag. I’ll carry it.”

Pamela Patton, Lake Highlands: The bag ban is a modest step toward solving a serious environmental problem. It may seem inconvenient at first, but then so did recycling when we started that years ago. I applaud Dallas for taking the lead where so many other cities have failed.

John Rafferty, Far North Dallas: I have been using cloth bags since I visited my daughter in Australia and saw how convenient it was to just carry your own reusable bags.

The first thing I learned when I went to a supermarket was that you got no bags unless you had three or more items. Then you had to purchase any bags if you did not have your own. It has worked for them for 15 years, I don’t see how it can not work for Dallas. They also had the same grocery cart system that ALDI uses. You put a coin in to get a cart and you got your coin back when you returned it to the stall. That should be he next step for all grocery carts.

By the way, I have gotten many dollars back from Albertsons just from the nickel per bag discount you get if you bring your own. I guess that will go away.

Robert Perkins, Lake Highlands: More governmental meddling cloaked in a “green” issue with the ultimate goal of once again trying to get into our pockets. When will it ever end? I can understand and even support the “tax” regarding plastic bags, but paper bags are certainly bio-degradable. Why not just ban the plastic bags altogether and forget the tax? Yeah, right.

Steve McCluer, Far North Dallas: Now that the city council has concluded that it is the bags that are the problem, not the people who discard them, why stop there? As I look around it seems the biggest source of litter is beverage cans and bottles. Let’s stop those as well. Then, there are those Styrofoam containers and cups that come with fast food. Let’s ban those, too. And I see a lot of paper of all sorts, so let’s ban paper, especially newspaper. And plastic. Unlike the plastic bags that have the council’s ire and which decompose in sunlight, hard plastics of many types can survive for centuries, so let’s ban everything made of plastic. Congratulations to our city council for spending a year clearly identifying the root cause of litter.

Sarah Scott, Cottonwood Heights in Richardson: The council’s action “banning” some plastic bags was a weak start; but, at least, it was a start. Ban the plastic bags and have no plastic available at the checkout, but sell reuseable bags for $1. No exceptions. Europe has done this for years. They do have a few small boxes available, but those go fast. Start now with a few boxes available and transition into the new regulations. Then by Jan. 1, maybe everyone will be used to the change and adapt.

Cathleen Hall, Far North Dallas: This 5 cents per bag does nothing to deter littering. The customers don’t care about $1 to $2 extra on their bill. It should be $1 per bag or no bags at all. I vote for no bags at all. We should make it so nobody wants to use the bags. We are back at square one and where do you think the money will eventually end up? Not for the environment. If the money does go up to clean up, how does this work? Will we get a line-by-line accountability? The money cannot go into a general fund.

Charles Smith, Lake Highlands: I do not think that the Dallas City Council should have passed the ordinance that requires the stores to charge 5 cents for each plastic bag. The bottom line is that it increases the cost of the trip to the grocery store. Because this new ordinance will restrict business, this issue is important enough to be put before the citizens of Dallas in a referendum. The real solution is to stop litterbugs from throwing plastic bags on the ground and not penalize business.

Unlike most citizens of Dallas, I will not suffer from this shortsighted and anti-business ordinance since I live in Lake Highlands, which is very near grocery stores in Richardson, Garland and Mesquite. I will go to these stores because I use plastic bags every day for cat litter and garbage can liners. I would rather spend money in a Dallas store so the city could benefit from the sales tax generated, but the city of Dallas leaves no other choice when this ordinance is enacted.

Shawn Sutherland, Richardson: Tyranny presented as environmentalism is still tyranny. Yet another reason to avoid shopping in Dallas.

Audrey Pincu, Far North Dallas: I don’t think charging 5 cents for a paper/plastic bag is the answer. Stores will only keep 20 percent of that. The city will make money. Since this is a Dallas ordinance, I will just drive up the street to the Richardson and Plano stores and shop there. While I carry reusable bags, sometimes I just want my groceries thrown in a plastic/paper bag. I then reuse them in other ways. The city should spend more time on educating the public and fining people for littering. Littering just doesn’t come in the way of bags, it’s all kind of waste.

William Keeler, Lake Highlands: While shopping today, I asked several retailers how they plan to handle the 5 cents environmental fee on plastic and paper bags. I got the same answer each time. “We’ll raise the price of all our goods to cover our expense for purchasing the bags, the associated administrative cost, the accounting, reporting and paying the tax to the city.” They assume the costs are tax deductible.

This is a huge tax burden on the community. Has the city done a survey and determined the approximate windfall to the city? Do they understand that they are squeezing multi-millions from the tax payers? Obviously the city council doesn’t care about the inconvenience to the retailer and the consumer. They don’t care about the inflation. They just want more money to squander.

Craig Prengler, Far North Dallas: This is another tax and jobs program under the guise of “I know what is better for you than you do” environmentalism. If I want something in a bag or a hamburger or some gum, I was taught how to properly dispose of the waste. Personal responsibility is the issue here , not the object du jour.

This fee will not end up anywhere, but the general fund and they will hire a dozen, no two dozen, people to keep track of what we already have people on staff to do. I bet my groceries do not go down either even though the costs of the bag is saved and they get a kickback for biting their tongues. The litter will remain and after seeing the income stream from what 5 cents can do, [Tennell] Atkins will get his wish of 10 cents in the coming years.

Linda Sessions, Lake Highlands: The Dallas City Council made a big mistake when they passed the new carry out bag environmental fee. Many people recycle bags in their homes either using plastic bags as trash bags or the paper bags as collection bags to recycle newspaper. Reusable bags are great, but they do become havens for germs and bacteria and need to be either replaced or if plastic, rinsed with diluted bleach periodically. I’m glad they will not charge for thin bags for vegetables, but what about meat and fish?

And why should we hire more city workers to run this program? Even children know it is wrong to litter. Why not just place the funds in the city coffers and omit increasing overhead?

This may sound like a good idea at first glance, but when you examine the details, it is a bad idea that will do nothing but increase cost for consumers and add employees to the city payroll. (Could that have been the real purpose?)

Richard Manning, Far North Dallas: It is a misnomer to call them single-use bags. They may not always be recycled, but typically they are reused. I typically reuse them by putting rubbish in them before I put the rubbish in the trash barrel behind my house.

The biggest problem is trash itself. People need to handle rubbish properly, especially food from fast-food places. People need to be concerned about all types of litter.

The 5 cent charge per bag is another tax! It is being called something else, but it is a tax.

Michael Smith, Far North Dallas: We will more than make up the lost revenue with being a more attractive place to live, which means people will want to move here and those who live here won’t want to move away. That means good jobs and less chance of ending up like Detroit. There is no excuse in a world where people can work from almost anywhere not to pay taxes and alter consumption habits to ensure our city is clean and beautiful.

Wendy Craig-Payne, Far North Dallas: I do not think the council’s actions were justified. I actually do reuse my bags as trash can liners, pet waste disposal, small kitchen waste disposal, etc. The focus should be on not littering anything: soda cans, cigarette butts, candy wrappers, whatever. I find it very inconvenient to have to supply my own bags. Ultimately, aren’t there more important things the city council could be spending their time on (oh, like the DISD mess for one)?

Leslie Chatman, Far North Dallas: I do not think the council’s actions were justified. Their actions actually make little sense to me. I am unsure of how this is a step forward in helping the environment. Assessing a fee, at it’s core, appears to be more about the city simply obtaining a premium for the use of single-use carryout bags. If the goal was to help clean up the environment, the council should have outlawed single-use carryout bags and put in place new efforts to clean up the city. I think most would agree that we want cleaner neighborhoods. I think cities should take a hard stand on this by simply removing the availability of single-use carryout bags, outlaw them.

Dormand Long, Lake Highlands: The problem here is the lack of concern by the 10 percent who do not care about the quality of life.

A better alternative is to ban plastic bags from grocery store use. Paper bags decompose and they are useful to collect newspapers for recycling.

If you see the improved scenery in such enlightened areas as Seattle, there are virtually no plastic bags littering the landscape.

Everyone there has reusable cloth bags that they take to the grocery store. Everyone benefits by having a far more attractive setting, as plastic bags are forever.

Janice Schwarz, Far North Dallas: I agree with the city council’s attempt to limit the usage of plastic bags. It is ridiculous the number of plastic single-use bags I see leaving groceries stores. Often only one item per bag and many of them double bagged. And most of those wind up in the trash and our landfills, unable to decompose. I always keep reusable bags in my car. It is an easy habit. Hopefully this ordinance will lower the excessive usage of plastic bags in Dallas. I support an outright ban on plastic bags, but this is a good first step.

Harry O. Davis, Far North Dallas: On this issue, the Dallas City Council is on the right side of history. More and more, municipalities, big cities and even entire countries are banning single-use bags. In fact, Texas has more cities regulating bags than any other state except California.

Kudos to the council for seeing through the exaggerations and misinformation being spouted by the Texas Retailers Association and taking this important stand. No jobs will be lost. Nobody will get salmonella from using reusable bags. All that will happen is that we will save a good portion of the nearly $1 million a year the city pays to clean up the trash these bags cause and we’ll have a cleaner place to live. So what’s so controversial about that?

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